Misreadings
by C.S. Bascom
Summary: Jason always loved the forest, but when he stayes out to late, it shows him that the feeling isnt mutual. Will little Jason make it home alive, or will the Creatures get him first...


Misreadings

"Did I get him?"

"Your stick broke, didn't it?"

"Is he dead?"  
"How should I know, I've never seen anything like these before…" The boy sat down on the ground with his back up against in the tree. He hugged his knees for warmth. It was late August, and the nights were already getting cold. And dark, the blanket of darkness was very thick this far away from the cities.

"Neither have I," said the boy again, more to himself than anything, while leaning his head back to rest against the tree.

Jason Nelson loved the forest, but tonight it seemed to show that the feeling wasn't mutual. For what must have been three forever's now, Jason had been running away from these Night Terrors. Jason had given them that title, but it certainly fit.

Each one must have been about four feet tall, and about twice that in length. They each had a pair of bright eyes which shown in beams that swept back and forth across the forest looking for prey. Some, Jason noticed, only had one eye. Jason assumed these had been lost in territorial fights.

One last thing that Jason had noticed about these creatures, was that their eyes ranged from a pale and sickly yellow, to a bright white, almost blue.

The boy heard a wail from beyond a ridge that lay to his left. "Jaaaaaasssoooooon!" Said the Night Terror.

Jason hopped off the ground and looked around furtively; he suddenly became very aware that he was in the forest, and in the dark and cold. Not with the girl he had a crush on. Looking at the direction the sound came from, Jason hit the dirt when an eye beam passed over the ridge and almost scanned the top of his head. After rolling over to his back and letting out a silent moan, Jason was thinking. Not about the girl he had a crush on, he had to focus on where he was.

At his feet was a steep hill he had fallen down a moment ago, and way off to his right was a hopefully dead Night Terror he had hit with his walking stick.

Neither of these facts helped him out any, he was just as lost as before. Just as lost as when the sun set, three forever's ago.

Sighing a small sigh, Jason lightly got up and walked to his left, away from the hopefully dead Night Terror. The small valley between the steep hill and the ridge stopped, the two inclines came together to form a more natural one. Jason got on his belly at the very end of his little valley and looked to checked the coast.

It wasn't quite clear, way off, roughly eleven o'clock, was a Night Terror scanning the ground close by with one eye, and off in the distance with the other. It let out a long low wail, and then continued its search in silence.

With one last check, and finally deciding that the coast was clear enough, Jason got up quickly, and rushed down the hill. When the ground had leveled out, Jason looked around to find a good tree, he had found a promising one and climbed to survey the land.

Same old same old, Night Terrors everywhere, all calling out his name in a hap-hazard way. It delighted Jason a bit to see he was out smarting them, and he smiled in the dark.

Through the darkness he looked for some land mark that would help him find home. And he was about to give up, when he saw it.

Jason had built many things in the forest; one of them was a failed attempt at a tree fort. Being one kid, he could never have completed the task, but he did manage to hang the ropes in the trees, and move one log all of three feet.

Off in the distance, beyond a large grove of small pine tree's was this un-finished project. And to add to the sweetness of the discovery, there wasn't a Night Terror at all by the ropes. Jason could almost taste how sweet it was, but then there was a sour note.

In the grove of trees, he saw a Night Terror, and another a bit farther.

After mumbling how much of a pain it would be to get out of the tree, and not get caught by the Terrors, Jason was half down the tree.

And after complaining about how much his legs hurt, how cold he was, and how much his stomach was demanding food, Jason finally touched ground.

After letting out a small sigh, and brushing off the dirt and bark on his hands, Jason headed for the pine grove.

He armed himself with a lone fist-sized rock, and hoped he'd never have to use it. While walking through the skinny trees, Jason was debating on whether or not to just run straight through, or to walk slowly and quietly, when the answer was given to him in the form of a Night Terror. It came from behind him "Jason!" it shouted, in a very friendly tone, too friendly for Jason. So he ran as quick as his tired, young legs could carry him, which was far enough. The Night Terrors, apparently, were to big to run through the small trees with any degree of speed, and so Jason came out, unharmed aside from scratches on his face and legs, and arrived at the web of rope.

Looking behind him, while catching his breath, he saw several eye beams swing high into the air, and arc back down.

"What," he panted, "Do they think I started flying?" he laughed as best he could while out of breath.

"Now, which way…" he started again, when he was rested. "Er….here we go." He walked on, after a step he picked up a new rock in favor of his older one, even though the two were identical.

"Five," Jason thought while he tossed the better stone to himself in the darkness, "maybe ten minutes tops before I get home." Home was a nice thought, he would be in a lot of trouble with his parents for staying out too long, but maybe they'd lighten up if they believed him.

While Jason thought, the ground grew on an incline.

"Right over this ridge," thought Jason, "is the Cross Roads, then from there, home. Five maybe ten minutes tops."

The Cross Roads was a place in the forest where three scarily used trails meet. There was a large pine tree in the center. There was a slight glow coming from behind the ridge.

"Just, over, this…"

"Jason!" a figure standing on the ridge shouted in a friendly tone. The figure had one very bright light by his side, which was shinning on Jason's face.

"Oh! Sorry bud-OW!" said the figure, and it fell to the ground. There was the sound of a clamor from behind the ridge. Lights danced.

After throwing the rock as hard as he could, Jason bolted to the left, thinking to take a less direct route to the Paths. The Paths was a name he had given the scarcely used trails.

He stumbled on the path at first, but it didn't matter, he was so excited to finally find it, he jumped for joy, and was able to recover. Behind him was the bedlam of the Terror's shouting his name in an inaudible manner.

His legs worked like pistons, on their last ounces of energy.

"Gotta get home," Jason repeated to himself as he ran "Gotta…Get…Home."

The trees parted and made room for the heavens to view the path. Jason knew this place, it he called it the Sun Chamber, because it got so much sun.

He was so painfully close, he could be able to shout and be heard from his house. And he probably would have, if it weren't for the unceasing riot of shouts from behind.

The pain of his closeness was amplified only by the fact that he tripped, and fell on the cold, hard, and dirty path. Pathetically, he tried to crawl away, but his body took the invitation of lying down, and Jason was out like a light, and as still as a rock.

When he woke up, it was light, and warm. The forest had disappeared, and it had been replaced by a room with an uncanny resemblance to a hospital ward. A girl that looked amazingly like the stereotypical nurse walked by, and saw that Jason was awake.

"Oh honey!" the girl said, in an enthusiastic tone. "Your parents have been worried half to death about you! Here, hun, I'll go get 'em." The girl who dressed like a nurse left, and Jason was left alone in the room that looked like a hospital ward.

He didn't even get to ask where he was. But, guessing from the exactness of the room and the girl to a hospital room and a nurse, he figured he was in a hospital.

After a joyous shriek from down the hall, followed by the quick pitter-patter of a woman's shoes, Mrs. Nelson appeared in the door way, mouth covered by her hands. Jason's father came up slowly behind her, with a smile on his face.

Jason sat up, and discovered he was sore all over. After getting comfortable again, he was meet by the hands of his mother, patting his head and holding his face. She was teary-eyed and speechless.

She sat down on the bed and jumped when she found her husband was all ready there, she laughed through her tears, and he smiled.

Being very confused, Jason could think of nothing else to say,

"What happened?"

His father smiled, and provided an answer. "When you didn't show up for dinner, we started looking for you. When we gave up, we called everyone we could to come over and help."

He paused to rub his wife's upper arm.

"When word got back to our little camp that you were spotted hitting a tree with your walking stick, everyone agreed to just let you come back on your own, since you were obviously well enough to run as fast as you did."

Jason nodded, letting the fact that Night Terrors were actually his friends and family soak in. His mind walked through the night before, until it got to the stone. Jason snapped back into the present.

"Who did I hit!" he shouted.

"Don't worry," his father laughed, "Your uncle's fine. A cracked rib, but he's fine. You got quite an arm. And besides, it wasn't the first time my brother's been beaten up by a little kid." His father laughed to himself again. There was probably a story behind it, Jason would have to ask later.


End file.
